Moose, Elk and Universal Design?

What, possibly, could the Colorado Rocky Mountains and universal design have in common? Recently, Design Institute's Interior Design Program Director, Denise Homme, was given the opportunity to participate in a design fellowship opportunity that challenged its participants to critically examine the details of this curious dichotomy. While checking her luggage onto a flight from San Diego to Denver, with a final destination near the Wyoming border, Denise couldn't help but ask herself, "Can universal design thinking be just as relevant in a remote area of the Colorado mountains as it is in the city?"

Let's leave Denise to her window seat and commanding view of the Colorado Rockies for a moment while we consider universal design. Coined by its founder, the architect Ron Mace, over thirty years ago, universal design is described by the Center for Universal Design at the University of North Carolina /Greensboro, as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." Known as "design for all" in most of Europe, universal design is based on the idea that the environmental needs of people change throughout the phases of a human lifetime. A look at the Aging in Place certification offered by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the current product offerings from Kohler (one of the United State's largest and most venerable purveyors of all things plumbing), it appears as if Ron Maces' grassroots idea has finally come into its own. An advocate for universal design since her first brush with it in a residential project almost twenty years ago, Denise couldn't wait to see how the coming week might unfold.

And what an amazing week it proved to be! Where else but in the Colorado Rockies can you spend days discussing ways of integrating universal design into interior design education with one of the leaders in the universal design movement while casually counting the elk and antelope outside your window? If actually staying at and experiencing over two hundred universal features that are part of the much-published Green Mountain Ranch demonstration house with its owner, designer and internationally known universal design guru, Cynthia Leibrock MA, ASID, IIDA, wasn't rewarding enough, equally meaningful for Denise was the opportunity to present and discuss a curriculum case study on the effects of ageism in universal design teaching. "It involved the presentation and scholarly discussion of a a method of introducing interior design students to the concept of UD while addressing ageism. Current teaching and interior design practice clearly support the idea that universal design is for 'old people,'" Denise explains. As a case in point, the only visible appellation available at this time related to universal design solutions is CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist), a credential offered by the NAHB. Unfortunately, because the NAHB has a lot of marketing clout, "aging" or "disabilities associated with aging" is what most people now think about when universal design is mentioned. The term "aging in place" is also the phrase seen in the popular press these days when it comes to universal design.

"Design educators who are in the know are able to explain UD, but I can tell you that quite often at CIDA visits we find that both students and faculty don't have a clear understanding of what UD is," shares Denise. "So if incorrect concepts are being taught, and acknowledgement of CAPS or AIP is part of that instruction, I think that it stands to reason that the tendency exists to regard older individuals as being debilitated in some way. This point of view is ageist."

The Green Mountain Ranch demonstration house offers an example of truly universal design, with over 200 UD features. When asked which of the features in the demonstration house haven't caught on in mainstream interior design, Denise answered: "If you consider UD features for what they are - readily available and typically recognizable products that are not unique or specialized - I would say that almost all of the over 200 features showcased at the Green Mountain Ranch have not caught on in regard to their use in a universally designed context. Universal design is not about the tangible features themselves but how the features we commonly associate with living in residential spaces are organized in regard to other parts of the design solution in subtle ways that result in an interior environment that is usable by all people regardless of age or ability."

As the week-long collaborative ended and they prepared for re-entry into the world of cell phones and WiFi, the Green Mountain Ranch fellows decided that one of the greatest challenges facing interior designers today is helping clients understand that universal design is not just for the elderly and the disabled. Although these two populations make up a portion of what is addressed within the far-reaching scope of universal design thinking, the fellows agreed that - unless they shift their own perceptions regarding aging, the elderly and the disabled, and find new ways to think about universal design - interior design professionals may find it difficult to explain to clients that universal design solutions can offer some of the most thoughtful, accommodating and visually appealing interior environments possible.

Lifting off from the tarmac of Denver International Airport - with the 612,000-acre Roosevelt National Forest fading into the background - Denise mused about the role universal design currently plays in the interior design curriculum at DISD. Speak to Denise - or any universal design advocate for that matter - and you'll find not only a deep sense of personal conviction but unfailing belief in a commonly-held prediction: over the next decade universal design will completely transform the design of the American home as well as greatly impact current design and construction standards and codes. If DISD's Interior Design Program Director has anything to say about it, our graduates will be at the forefront of the coming universal design revolution!